has enticed me—
How Kinsmen fell—
Brothers and Sister—who
preferred the Glory—
And their young will
Bent to the Scaffold, or in
Dungeons—chanted—
Till God's full time—
When they let go the ignominy—
smiling—
And Shame went still—
Unto guessed Crests, my moaning
fancy, leads me,
Worn fair
By Heads rejected—in the lower
country—
Of honors there—
Such spirit makes her perpetual
mention,
That I—grown bold—
Step martial—at my Crucifixion—
As Trumpets—rolled—
Feet, small as mine—have
marched in Revolution
Firm to the Drum—
Hands—not so stout—hoisted
them—in witness—
When Speech went numb—
Let me not shame their
sublime deportments—
Drilled bright—
Beckoning—Etruscan invitation—
Toward Light—
J295, Fr300
(1862)
Don’t we all have secret fantasies about being a singer, poet, heroic nurse
or pilot, or brave explorer? In this (and other) poems Emily Dickinson imagines
herself as a noble sufferer. Fox’s Book of Martyrs, the stories
of Christian saints killed for their beliefs, was part of the Dickinson library
and one that the poet was reputed to have read frequently.
She
begins the poem as if she were about to recount her own tale of woe, something
like the stories in the book. But then she sidetracks: “Trouble has enticed me,”
she confesses. She is drawn to the tales of suffering and shining faith. In one
such tale brothers and sister were executed at the scaffold or sent to die in
dungeons. But they “preferred the Glory,” so despite their persecution they
chanted their faith and died “smiling,” silencing any “Shame.”
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Brave martyrs |
In
the second stanza, Dickinson imagines that the martyrs have been granted “Crests”,
which may be crowns or other emblems of nobility, despite their having been “rejected”
here on earth (“the lower country”). Dickinson knows she is bordering on
bathos: “my moaning fancy, leads me,” she says, to imagine their “honors.” But
the proud spirit in the stories embolden her until she, too, feels ready to march
to the drum all the way to her own “Crucifixion.”
Dickinson
has written of her own crucifixion before, perhaps most notably in “Title
divine, is mine” where she is “Empress of Calvary.” In that poem she may have
been intimating she had become in some mystic way the bride of Christ. She may
well, however, have meant that she has endured much more suffering than most
people (and the two interpretations are not mutually exclusive). In another
poem, “I should have been too glad, I see,” she scathingly suggest that she be
crucified since all joy is denied her.
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Brightly painted Etruscan tomb |
But
this poem has a prouder tone. The poet reflects that the young kinsmen were no
bigger than she and yet they marched bravely and held up their little hands in
witness. Taking inspiration from them, the poet vows not to “shame their
sublime deportments” that brightly beckon towards a more heavenly light.
Dickinson calls this an “Etruscan invitation.” The Etruscan civilization
preceded and continued through much of the early Roman era. Beautiful Tuscany
was their heartland. Things Swiss and Italian appealed to Dickinson, and this
plus the romance of their long-departed culture, beckons to her in time of
trouble.
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